Got a half hour to open your brain?

[gun_metal]

I had a hard time deciding whether to post this one or the PETA one, but in the end I think this one hammers harder on a specific point that has become increasingly apparent to me. We need more thinkers in this world, and far less followers

Comments

Bah!!

[rae_too_serious]

Couldn't watch the whole thing right now (but I will) and I'm pretty impressed. I could go on and on about all kinds sensationalism, but especially the kind that shoots causes I suppose in the foot. The fact is, people don't know what the fuck they're talking about. After living in California for four years, where folks protest and protest and couldn't explain to you on straight idea or one un-skewed piece of evidence supporting their cause, I've become pretty bitter. It's not 1968, you little white upper-middle class hippies. Listening to Led Zeppelin doesn't make you edgy. Do you know what ecology means? Do you understand the process of global warming, oh science journalist? Have you showered lately, young hopping lesbian wannabe? Don't get me started on animal testing activists.

My name is Chrissy Spence, I'm a marine biologist and life-long environmentalist.

Re: Bah!!

[gun_metal]

I think it's fair to say sensationalism is the greatest threat mankind has ever faced. It will be the death of all of our children!

But seriously, the most aggravating part of the whole dance is that these are the people who will call the rest of humanity sheep. But all they're doing is conforming through rebellion.

Re: Bah!!

[bossgoji]

Even worse is when they smush the terms together and create the abomination of English vocabulary that is "sheeple." The phrase itself drips with the unctuous, gloopy syrup of smug self-satisfaction. It's right up there with "lulz" and "faggot" on the list of "words not to say if you want me to think of you as an actual person."

[afranklindsey]

Fear is a dangerous, dangerous thing. Right now, it's really being overused. Shit...global warming. My dad has been talking for YEARS about global climate change and its influence on different places, the weather, and thus the influence on animal and plant species. That book sounds really interesting though (The Skeptical Environmentalist). Even if the author's pants are too tight.

[afranklindsey]

It's also sad that some of the people do have good points, they just take them to the extreme and end up being hypocritical or looking like loons.

Choosing your side before learning the facts = religion

[gun_metal]

The problem is that modern environmentalism is not science, and it in fact tends to abhor inconvenient truths. It is religion masquerading as science. There is a specific dogma to be preached, and ideas that may solve actual problems are overlooked because they don't feel "right

Re: Choosing your side before learning the facts = religion

[afranklindsey]

That's a really interesting quote. And good points, including the basic principle of supply and demand. I hadn't thought of environmentalism in the context of supply and demand. That really only works with renewable resources though, like with the tree/paper example. You can always plant more trees, but you can't create more fossil fuels. Then again, looking at gasoline through the supply/demand principle, you would think that the more gas we use, the harder corporations would work to find a renewable, afforable, non-ridiculous (read: not ethanol...stupid, stupid ethanol) fuel source. So far, that isn't working super-well, but it could work better in the future. And those fuel sources would need to be adopted by the auto industry before anything else, and that's an entirely different can of worms. Maybe there already is a great renewable fuel source that could be used for fuel, but we don't (or I don't, at least) know about it because of the auto industry. My dad works in the auto industry and he heard talk about hybrid gas/